Gasoline shortages in Venezuela are worsening after U.S. officials have told foreign firms to refrain from supplying the fuel to the sanctioned South American nation and only provide diesel, according to five people familiar with the situation. Since late 2019, U.S. officials have asked most of Venezuela’s fuel suppliers to avoid sending gasoline to the crisis-stricken nation. In the latest round of calls in early March between U.S. officials and oil firms, they repeated the ban, despite worsening humanitarian conditions in the country, one of the sources said. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Venezuela’s state-run Petroleos de Venezuela [PDVSA.UL] over a year ago as a measure to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who Donald Trump’s administration considers a dictator usurping power. A handful of foreign companies – including Russia’s Rosneft, Spain’s Repsol SA, Italy’s Eni SpA and India’s Reliance Industries – continued to supply fuels to PDVSA […]